Vulnerability
by CrumblingAsh
Summary: First movie AU. One-shot. Brian sits at the counter of the shop and Dominic is critical. That intensity of fear and breaking did not belong on the face of an adult man.


**disclaimer - I do not own Fast and Furious and do not make any profit from this work.**

**note - this is of an alternate universe where Brian is not a police officer. He is not undercover; his meeting with Dom actually is just a coincidence.**

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Dominic Toretto knew about haunted men - the ones who had grown up with rejection as their music and pain as their blanket to cuddle with when the anger went to bed. He knew about hardened gazes and defensive attitudes and the broken pieces inside pieced together with wood and nail instead of stitches. Those men became hard, cutting - as dangerous as their anger but with their rage targeted not a singular source, but at an entire world that had been too busy to give a damn.

The kid at the counter of their shop had been coming in for a week.

He was almost text-book with his hunched shoulders and softened voice. Almost dangerous, enough so that Dom had been itching to pull Mia away from him, to shield her bright smiles and concerned attitude from a beast society had created.

But at the end of his first visit, as he dropped a five-dollar bill next to the plate of tuna sandwich remains, the kid had looked up and their gazes met through the window of his office. It was like a punch to the stomach, the pure _rawness_ in eyes too blue to be authentic, the lack of murderous desperate edge and bitterness. He had looked almost vulnerable, afraid, and he had lowered his gaze and darted out the door before Dominic could blink.

That intensity of fear and breaking did not belong on the face of an adult man.

(_"Brian"_, was all Mia could offer up that night, slim shoulders shrugging, her eyebrows furrowed with the same thoughts as his own. He had hugged her to him, her dark head burrowing into the crook of his neck, and they didn't talk about it anymore).

Brian came back the next day, despite the encounter that had spooked him, though he had sat a few more seat further from the window, crouched in the corner against the wall. And the next day, and the following, and another, until it was that Mia would already have his sandwich prepared for him when arrived, and Dom had gotten familiar with the kid's shy smiles and murmured gratitude.

At home, Brian was known, too. Jesse thought he was beautiful, dragging the word out appreciatively in a way that made Dom laugh. Leon was indifferent to his presence in the diner, and Letty would tilt her head when he was spoken of, silent with a faint understanding that still set his teeth on edge. Vince, however, seemed incapable of viewing Brian past his continuous close proximity to Mia, constantly spouting off insults and threats of the man he had never seen.

(_"You'll back off,"_ Dom had warned when Vince muttered something about stopping by the diner one afternoon, just to see how everything was going. _"He's done nothing to you. Do not embarrass me, Vince."_ The insults had continued, even more vicious after their talk, but Vince never showed up at the shop and they left it at that).

Today was the same. Brian had walked through the door, his blond surfer curls as messy as ever, his head down as he moved slowly toward the counter and the tuna waiting for him. He voiced a quiet thanks to Mia, his head still down, and tucked into his sandwich slower than normal. Dom could see Mia's hesitation, the look of concern she tossed him over her shoulder as she moved back to her books. He stood from his chair, careful not to make any loud noise as he moved to the door frame, and he watched Brian. The way his hands shook slightly as he brought his soda can to his lips, the way he tried to keep his head down as he took small sips, the stiffness in the way he sat, keeping his back straight.

He was _almost_ a text-book case.

"Yo, Brian," he called out, startling Mia from her papers, and for a second he saw Brian freeze, his hand locked onto the tuna. Then, hesitantly, he lifted his head, and Dom finally saw the vivid markings of a rapidly forming bruise stretching from eye to jaw.

"My name's Dominic," he continued softly. He waited until Brian's eyes met his, timid with a spark of determination, and took a step forward.

"Let's talk."

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**complete**


End file.
